2017 fastest growing jobs

While it is very difficult to measure, the list below shows some of what are expected to be the fastest growing jobs from 2017 up through the middle of the next decade. While there are literally thousands of different industries in the United States, the economy is always evolving and almost impossible to predict, the Bureau of Labor Statistics as well as other organizations try to give their estimation of where job growth may come from.

Note that this is but one list from one organization. Many other businesses, such as Monster.com, Indeed, Career.com and others also report on this using their own data points. So their data will vary.

In addition to these variances, many states publish their own local listings of where 2017 and future job growth may come from. As the fact is that all parts of this country have different industries or service companies that operate in them. For example, California will skew towards IT jobs while Florida will have more tourism/service type jobs.

Expected 2017 job growth

With that being said, the BLS reports that wind turbine technicians should be the job with the highest growth in employment. It is expected to show a 108% increase in jobs in this field, and this is the result of the growth in renewable fuels. However this could be at risk due to the political environment.

The second to fourth area of growth in 2017 are all around health care. The jobs include Occupational therapy assistants, Physical therapist assistants, and then also Home Health and Physical therapist aides. Total employment is expected to increase by around 38 to 42% in all of these categories.

The next category of growth is commercial divers. Yes, that is diver…not driver. This is an usual job category, but is expected to see growth of 37% nonetheless. That then leads us to categories from 6 to 11. And these all once again are around medical care.

The expected growth in 2017 and going forward for rankings of 6 to 11 include Nurse practitioners, Physical therapists, Statisticians, Ambulance drivers and attendants, Occupational therapy aides, and then Physician assistants. The overall increase in employment will range from low to to ~35%.

What this means is that as many as 7 of the 11 fastest growing employment trends for the next several years will all be round medical care. This makes perfect sense with the aging population and increased use of hospitals, etc. which mostly result from the Affordable Care Act. However note there have been some rumblings from hospitals that if the ACA is repealed, this will result in less people using approved medical care, which may lead to a slowdown in hiring.

Note these will be some of the fastest growing jobs in 2017 through the middle of the next decade by percentage increase in overall employment. But these are not necessarily the highest paying jobs, or they may not even pay enough for a livable wage (example may be home health aides). The jobs with the highest expected increase in employment and highest wages is a different list. While there is some overlap between the two lists (including Nurse practitioners or Pas) there are many other jobs that are high growth, high wages.

Using BLS data, as well as other sources, some of those employment opportunities that will be growing quickly and that offer high wages include Optometrists, Web Developers, High tech manufacturing/machinery, IT security, and others. Almost all of those high wage jobs have something in common…education and the need for skills.

The job market is booming as we enter and progress throughout 2017. In fact companies have been on a hiring spree for the last 2-3 years according to the monthly JOLT job opening reports. Anyone that wants a job can get one. Many of them do pay livable wages as well. However for even more opportunities, we will always stress education, initiative, and personal responsibility, as all of those will lead to even higher wages.